Eddie, Crazy Eddie

Hard on the heels of a report in the New York Post that the “Crazy Eddie” trademark has been purchased despite the conviction and imprisonment, on fraud charges, of its founder, Eddie Antar, comes the news, via Variety, that Danny DeVito will direct Antar’s life story, from a script by Peter Steinfeld. (Crazy Eddie’s was the New York electronics chain which, in the seventies and eighties, was famed for its commercials featuring a manic, pop-eyed, crazily costumed character, the d.j. Jerry Carroll, yelping, “His prices are innnn-saaaaaane!!!!!”) The story is one for the age of Madoff; it’s a good time to revisit Dreiser’s “The Financier.” The Post reminds readers that rights to the character in the commercials are owned by Carroll himself, seen here:

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